Do You Mean What I Think You Mean?
by hazelle
Summary: Movieverse, one-shot. What if Aunt May was a little less vague about what she knew about Peter in the moving out scene from Spider-man 2? FINISHED!


**Hi! Wrote this little one-shot last night, thought I'd put it up while you're waiting for the sequel to '94' and for me to continue with 'Surprise, Surprise!' Unfortunately I've got writers block with both, I wrote the next bit for 'Surprise, Surprise!' but I think it's really bad. I'm gonna leave it for a week then come back to it and hopefully it'll flow better. In the meantime, I've been writing lots of little one-shots, I'll put a Peter/MJ one up in a few days! Anyways, this is a sweet little scene from Spider-man 2 I embellished, I think I got most of the script right, (I've seen Spider-man 2 so many times now!), so please read and review!**

**Oh yeah, disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone from this story, I'm just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully the amusement of anyone who reads this, so don't sue. (I always forget the disclaimer, so I put one in my profile that counts for all my fics).**

**Do You Mean What I Think You Mean?**

"I got your message. What's all this?" Peter frowned round at the big cardboard boxes that clustered the yard.

"Oh, I've been evicted. I've got until next week, but I thought the _hell_ with it. I'm moving on." Aunt May glanced up at her nephew and smiled.

"Look, about my last visit..." Peter started warily.

"Oh, pish posh, it's water over the dam or under the bridge or wherever you want to put it." Aunt May interrupted him, waving her hands about to emphasize her point. "The fact is, you did a brave thing in telling me, and I thank you and I'm proud of you, and I love you, Peter", she walked over to him and wrapped him a hug. "So very much". He smiled into her hair, closing his eyes in relief.

She let go and held him at arms length, smiling at him, then turned to carry on packing, wiping her eyes discreetly as she did so.

"Hey, where are all my comics?" Peter suddenly asked, looking round at all the boxes as if his collection would suddenly appear.

"Oh, those awful things; I threw those away", Aunt May waved a hand dismissively in the air as she searched through a box.

Peter looked abashed for a moment. He'd always loved comic books as a kid, he had a whole pile of them. Well, used to have. He just loved reading about superheroes and their adventures, and he laughed inwardly at the irony of it all.

"You really shouldn't be moving these things all by yourself" Peter said out loud.

"Oh, I'll be fine. I've got Henry Jackson from across the street helping me, and I'm giving him five dollars" she said, as Henry himself came out the back door, stack of books in hand.

"Hi Peter" Henry said brightly, squinting up at his ex-next-door-neighbour.

"Hiya Henry. You're getting tall" Peter put a hand on the boys head as if to measure him.

"Hey, you take those pictures of Spider-man, don't you?" he said suddenly, catching Peter off guard. Aunt May looked up behind him curiously.

"I... used to" he answered hesitantly.

"Henry and I agree" Aunt May piped up, tilting her head at Peter in a knowing manner she said. "We don't see his pictures in the paper anymore".

"Why did he go away?" Henry asked curiously, a note of sadness tingeing his voice.

"Uh, guess he wanted to try other things" Pete replied uncomfortably, avoiding the little boy's eyes.

"Is he coming back?" he persisted.

"I..." Peter didn't have the heart to say no. "...don't know." He never was a very good liar.

Henry nodded sadly and went off to pile the books in the car.

"You'll never guess who he wants to be" Aunt May said with amusement in her voice, turning back to packing as Peter looked at her. She answered before he could. "_Spider-man!_". She smiled to herself.

"Why?" Peter asked, utterly confused by the prospect. Why in the world would anyone want to be him?

Aunt May glanced at him. "He knows a hero when he sees one" she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She tilted her head and appraised him with an amused stare.

"Too few characters, flying around like that, saving old girls like me." she laughed and turned back to the boxes.

"Lord knows kids like Henry need a hero. Courageous, self-sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. _Everybody_ loves a hero" she continued packing as if he weren't there.

"People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names, and years later they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours, just to get a glimpse of the one who told them to _hold on_, a second longer."

Aunt May paused and looked meaningfully at Peter. "I believe there's a hero in all of us. Keeps us honest. Gives us strength. Makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride. Even though sometimes we have to be steady, and, give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams." She tilted her head and smiled slightly at him.

"I believe in you Peter, and I know you'll make the right decision." Aunt May said nonchalantly as she stuffed some shirts into a box.

"Huh?" Peter squeaked, shocked. Did she mean...?

She paused and looked up at him. "Haven't see too much of that Spider-man character lately, have you?" she said with a knowing twinkle in her eye.

Peter stared at her for a moment. "No. Not too much lately".

Aunt May smiled again and turned back to moving stuff around. "Do you think he'll come back?"

"If he can". Peter replied after a while, feeling uneasy with the direction the conversation was going.

"Good. He will." she said with conviction, digging around in a box.

"How do you know?" he asked, surprised. She knew more than she was letting on...

"I know a hero when I see one too, Peter. I'm sure Mary Jane does too." she tilted her head. Peter stared. "Don't you think this city needs it's hero back?" she stared intently at him.

"Do you mean... what I think you mean?" Peter finally asked, eyes wide.

"Well, that would depend on what you think I think?" she replied cryptically.

"I think... I think you think, that..." he paused and took a deep breath. "...I'm Spider-man".

She looked at him, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"I thought he gave up". She replied non-comittally.

"He did." Peter said dumbly.

"And why's that?" she asked, coming closer and looking Peter in the eyes.

"He wanted a life of his own" Peter swallowed, feeling his throat close up, threatening tears.

"What about the lives of the people that need saving?" she countered, all trace of her smile gone.

"He... he didn't think about that" Peter said unhappily.

"Don't you think he ought to?" she said quietly.

"Do you really need to ask that, Aunt May?"

She smiled sadly. "C'mere" She wrapped him in a hug and he sniffled into her shoulder. He furiously blinked back tears, then let go of his Aunt.

"I have to go" he said, stepping backwards.

"I know" Aunt May smiled at him.

"I'll call you!" he called over his shoulder as he ran to the front of the house.

"Alright. And be careful, Peter! I love you!" she said, unsure if he'd hear her or not.

"Love you too, Aunt May!" she heard faintly back. She smiled and gazed at the spot where he'd disappeared for a second longer before turning back to packing.

A few minutes later, she heard a far off overjoyed yell. "I'mmm baaaaaaack!" She smiled and shook her head.

**Fin**

**I'm pretty sure Aunt May knew that Peter's Spider-man in the film, but she never really openly said it which I thought was brilliant. Loved that scene, it was clever how they were conversing at two levels without really ever admitting anything, so I just had to add more, lol. Please review, I'm really pleased with how this fic came out and I wanna know what you guys think! :D Oh and yes, I know 'non-comitally' isn't a real word, or at least my spellcheck says it isn't, but there isn't another word that describes it, so I made one up! lol**

**About "Surprise, Surprise!":**

**Tempest in Blue: The bit where Peter says "I'm your only chance", was supposed to be a subtle threat, since Peter heard Jameson saying how it was his fault MJ was kidnapped, he was using the opportunity to help keep Jameson's mouth shut about his identity, like, "I'll go save MJ if you keep quiet" type thing, but I guess I didn't pull it off. Aw well. Oh yeah, and I only said "Jameson gets the talking to of his life in the summary" so more people would read, lol. ;)**

**diggerthedirtyhorse: It's funny you should say that, cos I actually already wrote a fic where Aunt May, MJ, Harry and Norman Osborn do look up in that scene where Peter's stuck to the ceiling without his mask, I don't really like it cos it's not my best work, but since you asked I'll put it up in a few days, k? :)**

**So, the next fic will be Peter/MJ fluff, then the ceiling scene, and I'll see what I can do for continuing "Surprise, Surprise!" and "94". Aren't I good to you guys? ;)**

**End of obscenely long authors note. Review!**


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